Auditing Business Continuity: Global Best Practices (business Continuity Management) [Paperback]

Endorsed by The Business Continuity Institute. - Contains a comprehensive, detailed business continuity audit plan - Includes sample audit report and work papers - An ideal resource for consultants or auditors, as well as internal business continuity planners! - International in scope - includes country-specific guidelines. This book presents a general methodology and a framework for auditing Business Continuity Management (BCM). The main purpose is to provide a single work of reference for auditors, managers working in business continuity and consultants. BCM is a complex field. It covers business issues and technology with a perspective on the entire enterprise. The business continuity manager, and the auditor, require a diversified set of skills and extensive knowledge to assess business continuity as a question of business survival. There has been a lot of confusion about the terms business continuity, disaster recovery, IT security and many other words attempting to describe the continuation of critical business processes under adverse circumstances. However, for the auditor these terms refer to one and the same notion: businesses should take adequate precautions to ensure that no going concern issues arise from crises or disasters. Some companies decide to take a cautious stance with regard to continuing their operations come what may: they prefer to err on the safe side and rely on preventative measures. Other firms, perhaps in an industry where speed to market and competitive pressure require a faster pace, may prefer to reduce investments on prevention, while putting in place a robust crisis and disaster management mechanism. Both types of corporations nevertheless pursue the overall goal of business continuity, by either avoiding risks or disasters (if they can), or by making sure they can deal with these events. In a sense, BCM means reading the future or trying to safeguard an organization against unforeseen events. Management is still forcedl³á